President Elect Joe Biden and Vice President Elect Kamala Harris will be sworn into office at noon on Wednesday, but they've reportedly made plans to sign a series of executive orders on the same day.
The immediate consequences of the reported orders will be symbolic in some cases, but that's okay. It's good! These day-one orders will be a very clear signal that the era of Trumpism is over.
Among other things, Biden's orders will include rejoining the Paris climate accord.
Biden, who campaigned on a raft of promises to undo President Donald Trump’s legacy even before the novel coronavirus pandemic walloped the nation, will unveil “roughly a dozen” previously promised executive actions on Wednesday, incoming Biden chief of staff Ron Klain said in a memo distributed to reporters.
The actions to be taken on Wednesday include rejoining the Paris climate accords, reversing a travel ban on several majority Muslim countries, extending a pause on federal student loan payments, halting evictions and foreclosures, as well as mandating masks in inter-state travel and on federal property.
The Canadian press separately reported that Biden will sign an order to terminate the Keystone XL pipeline extension once and for all.
The words "Rescind Keystone XL pipeline permit" appear on a list of executive actions supposedly scheduled for Day 1 of Biden's presidency.
The list shown to stakeholders is a lengthier version of a list already reported in the media based on a memo released publicly over the weekend by Biden's chief of staff Ronald Klain. That publicly reported memo from Klain did not mention Keystone XL, but cautioned that the memo was not a complete list of planned actions.
I don't know about you, but I'm planning to celebrate on Wednesday night. I'm honestly not sure if I'm even ready for the emotions that are coming.
This is barely the beginning of the beginning of scrubbing every Trump stain from the federal register, but it's a good start for one day.